Racing
Dankjewel, Holland!
The Vuelta’s Gran Salida in the Netherlands was unforgettable
August 22, 2022
It was the biggest crowd that Julius van den Berg had ever seen at a bike race.
The third stage of the Vuelta’s Gran Salida in the Netherlands followed his training roads around the Dutch province of Brabant, and in every town and village people thronged the course, enjoying picnics and tapas parties. Julius didn’t recognise a face when they raced through his hometown of Roosendaal. He was in the break for the second day in a row. This time, he was wearing the blue polka-dotted climbers’ jersey.
The wind had picked up, the peloton was chasing hard, and there were King of the Mountains points up the road.
“I had never seen crowds like this before in any race that I have done,” Julius says. “It was incredible. Thank you Utrecht. Thank you Den Bosch. Thank you Breda. Dankjewel Nederland!”
“We were going really fast all day, and went full gas at that moment, so I didn’t see a lot of friends and family right then, but 100% they were there, and that was amazing,” Julius says. “It was really cool to hear everybody shouting my name and so enthusiastic. There were so many people cheering. It was really cool to ride through Holland in the polkadot jersey, with everybody knowing who I am.”
The one climb on course was the Rijzendeweg: 300 metres at 3.7%.
When he is at home, Julius sprints up it on a weekly basis. To keep the jersey, he needed to win one of the three points on offer at the top. He got it.
“We had been going really fast for a while, because the peloton was close and the wind was annoying,” Julius says. “It was hard. I thought I had the sprint, but Thomas de Gendt was keen to get some points, and he got the two for first and I got the one just behind him, but that was enough to keep the jersey.”
After kissing his wife and daughter and pulling on a fresh polka dot shirt on the podium, Julius spent an hour signing autographs and taking pictures with the Dutch fans, before heading to the airport with the team to fly to the Basque Country, where the Vuelta will resume Tuesday. The past three days in the Netherlands have been unforgettable for Julius and the team, and Julius wanted to soak in every second.
“I had never seen crowds like this before in any race that I have done,” Julius says. “It was incredible. Thank you Utrecht. Thank you Den Bosch. Thank you Breda. Dankjewel Nederland!”